


Decisions

by aglionbyfoxes



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, andrew adopted by nathan au, just talked about, or rather mention of violence, there's no violence actually depicted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29389764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aglionbyfoxes/pseuds/aglionbyfoxes
Summary: Two years ago, Andrew was adopted by Nathan. Now that Nathaniel can trust him, he has a proposition.
Kudos: 16





	Decisions

Andrew took stock of his injuries. Burns on his flank and upper back, bruises blooming warmly on his thighs, cuts where the blood dried thin all along his forearms. He dug his fingers into the skin there, reopening a few of the wounds and watching as the blood dripped onto the bed. Freshly made, with clean sheets. Nathan always had the maids come in while he brought the two of them to the basement. It was practice, he said, for any more potentially gruesome workplace hazards. Andrew suspected it worked just as well as a warning. 

He looked across the beds to Nathaniel, his side of the room a mirror of Andrew’s. Just like it’d been for the past two years, since Andrew was adopted. Even thinking the word made him sneer out of habit. It was the word Nathan used when he tried to force the familial connection, when he explained just how important Andrew would be to the family business, how much Nathaniel would need him. Nathaniel does just fine on his own. Andrew watches him catalogue his wounds in the same way Andrew had, like some gross facsimile of a synchronized dance. 

It had bothered him for a long time, when he first got here, how similar Nathaniel looked to Nathan. He would spend his days in the basement staring dark auburn hair and icy blue eyes in the face only to have to see it every night too, as he pieced himself back together as much as he could manage. Eventually Andrew had been able to see the difference in the two - the features were the same but despite Nathan’s worst intentions, Nathaniel would never be a perfect mold of his father. Which is why, Andrew suspects, he’s even here in the first place. Andrew’s light tones are a stark difference to the others in the family, and even to Nathaniel’s mother, when she was still around. But he had been a problem child with the agency, according to the file he had sneaked a look at so many times. Had caused enough issues to catch Nathan’s attention, at least. Nathaniel was tough, in a lot of ways. But not in the ways Nathan wanted, so now it was up to Andrew to -- what, exactly? At first he had suspected his only role was to be a pseudo bodyguard, making sure that no one took advantage of any of Nathaniel’s stupider habits. Andrew had resented him for that for a while, took out his anger on himself and on Nathan and Nathaniel. But once Nathaniel and Andrew started actually becoming the brothers Nathan so often pretended that they were, Andrew began to notice the changes in Nathan’s….tactics. Punishments became more pointed, more specific, and with Andrew becoming an active participant and Nathaniel the focal point. It’s not that Nathan didn’t want his real son to succeed him, it’s just that he cared about practicality more. 

Andrew was shaken from his thoughts by a snap in front of his face. “Hey. you’re bleeding on the bed dipshit.” Nathaniel shoved a towel in his face, already stained pink in one corner but otherwise clean, for Andrew to finish wiping up his arm. He took his time and glanced over at Nathaniel when he was done, who was staring back at him this time, pools of blue that Andrew felt at this point could read his mind. 

“I know he wants you to kill me. I know you know that. Are you going to?” Andrew felt his body stiffen, not sure whether to fake ignorance or fake cruelty.

He settled on, “I could.”

“That’s not what I asked.” Andrew rolled his eyes at the immediate response. They had been doing this for too long, really, were getting too far into each other's heads.

“I could. But I won’t.”

“But you could?”

“I already said that. Usually he avoids your head, did he miss this time?” The corner of Andrew’s mouth twitched down again at the question. He didn’t know where Nathaniel was going with this and the uncertainty left him unsettled. This sort of thing was usually Nathan’s game, not his son’s. 

“It’s what he’s always wanted isn’t it? To be proven right about you - that you’re ready to take the next step. And if you mix up the targets, well....that’s an easy mistake to make, isn’t it?” Nathaniel faced away from Andrew and began fiddling with the books on the shelves, pretending to be interested in something when Andrew knew all he was doing was watching Andrew’s reaction out of the corner of his eye. With anyone else Andrew was enough of an expert to not let anything show on his face, but Nathaniel knew him better than that.

“Yes.” Nathaniel spun around so hard he nearly knocked the books off the shelf and Andrew got up to throw the towel in the trash, letting Nathaniel compose himself. “Were you not expecting that answer?”

Nathaniel’s mouth opened and closed while he waited for sound to come out. Andrew got ready for bed and shut off the lights so he wouldn’t have to look his decision in the face any longer. His stomach settled in a way it hadn’t in months while he listened to Nathaniel shuffle around in the dark and get into his bed across the room.

Nathaniel’s whispered goodnight echoed in the dark room and for once it didn’t sound like a goodbye.

**Author's Note:**

> I was cleaning out my google drive today and found this -- it's the first draft of a much more involved AU with a similar plot. At this point in my life i'm not really active in this fandom anymore and i'm not sure that that AU will ever come to life but this snippet was a lot better than I remembered so I figured, at the very least, it shouldn't collect dust. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also, in this version Nathaniel and Andrew's relationship is intended to be strictly platonic.


End file.
